Have a student stumped by homework? Find exercises and extra help in various subject areas in this kid friendly site. Navigate through the various resources and friendly graphics to areas of the site such as "Sweet Stuff" which features neat interactives, "Needed Knowledge" with great tips, "Book review" to view video book reviews, and "Getting Historical." Watch informative (don't confuse with boring) videos of various math problems whether it be basic math, solving word problems, or even geometry. Find videos for other subjects such as science, language arts, social studies, health, and art. Review information in various subjects by trying age-appropriate interactives. This site also boasts "Dial A Teacher." Students can use a toll-free number to speak with a real teacher Monday through Thursday between the hours of 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. EST.

In the Classroom

Visit the "Boring Stuff' link for parents and teachers to find a PDF of 10 Ways to Use the Homework Helper Site in Your Classroom. Find segment guides, scripts, and book reviews beneficial for in class or use by students outside of class. Share this link at Back to School Night and put the link directly on your class website. Encourage middle schoolers to build independent work habits using this site.

Consider creating helpful information, videos, and tutorials of information students need answers to and creating your own help site as a school. Use students to create book reviews, math tutorials, etc. Use a tool such as SchoolTube reviewed here to share the videos.

Are your students frustrated with issues and problems of today? Wish to create a more enlightened and responsible generation? Use the resources at Take Part to bring issues and possibilities to light. Search issues by category, read news stories, find actions and communities, and even create communities and actions. Read the must read of the week and view important facts and ideas. View video clips, read articles, and more. Join the community though this is not necessary to use the resources.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Non-fiction reading and background knowledge have found a new emphasis with The Common Core State Standards. It is more important now than ever to help connect students with quality non-fiction reading material and viewing material. Find great resources, actions, and possibilities for many of the best documentaries students can view such as "Inconvenient Truth" and "Food, Inc." Be sure to check out the lesson plans available at this site.

Global Handwashing Day (GHD) was created by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing in 2008 to foster and support a global culture of handwashing with soap, shine a spotlight on the state of handwashing in every country, and raise awareness about the benefits of handwashing with soap. Their website offers several tools and activities to help students and teachers become involved in supporting this initiative. Younger students will enjoy the interactive "Hand Washing with Soap" game that teaches the importance of washing with soap. Teachers and school nurses can use the "Planners Guide" loaded with facts, activities, and suggestions as a resource for teaching students the importance of hand washing. Many resources are also available in French, Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic.

In the Classroom

Use information from this site as a resource when planning health units. Create a link to the hand-washing game for students on classroom computers or on your interactive whiteboard as a center. Share this site with health professionals in your school as a resource for their use. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain the importance of hand washing. Use a site such as Blabberize (reviewed here). Challenge older students to use information from the site as a starting point for research in diseases spread through unhealthy practices in countries around the world.

Amelia Earhart's birthplace and home in Atchison, Kansas has been turned into a museum to honor her accomplishments. Their website offers several resources geared toward showcasing her life and accomplishments. Visitors to the site can take a virtual tour of the museum to visit the parlors, kitchen and other rooms of her childhood home including several original artifacts. You can visit the link entitled Amelia Earhart to read a short biography, childhood information, aviation accomplishments, fun facts, and much more. Be sure to check out the News Clips portion for actual copies of news articles about her adventures.

In the Classroom

Have students create an online presentation on Amelia Earhart or women in aviation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge presentation tools reviewed here. Have students create "talking pictures" as an alternative to a traditional reports using Fotobabble reviewed here.

This site offers stories, activities, "entertaining" songs, and more to teach students about Hanukkah and Passover. The "Activities" portion of the site contains many different crafts such as Design Your Own Dreidel, coloring pages, and origami. The "About Hanukkah" section gives a brief history of the holiday and describes how it is commonly celebrated today. There is also a large recipe section offering recipes for many different types of latkes and candle cupcakes. The educators section includes questions to use with the stories on the site. Some of the videos (for example Hanukat Montana Rocks Out the Show, don't offer much educationally and are more for pure entertainment.) .

In the Classroom

Use this site to provide background information to students on the history and traditions of Hanukkah. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to create a visual comparison of Hanukkah celebrations and students' traditional holiday celebrations.

This site offers a history of Groundhog Day along with a year by year recap of the groundhog's forecast. It is divided into sections for easier viewing, sections include origins of Groundhog Day, information on the movie of the same title, along with the history and a list of each year's shadow observations. Although very simple, this site is worth a visit to gather facts and information about the Groundhog Day observance.

In the Classroom

Share information and facts from the site with students on Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil's forecast has only been accurate 39% of the time according to this site, share this fact with students and have them research how this percentage would change if there had more or less correct observances. Have students research weather conditions in your city for the same dates and compare that to see how it could have worked out if Phil were from your hometown.

This site lets you keep study notes with you anywhere you go! Create flashcards and study even on your mobile phone. Share notes, flashcards, study guides, and quizzes with others for excellent collaboration. Study Blue also provides hints to help students study. Create a folder in "My Backpack." Make flashcards to get started or search flashcards already created by others.

In the Classroom

Use as a study aid for students. This is a great tool for older students (who own cell phones). Students can study their flashcards on the bus, in the backseat of the family car, or while waiting for their dentist appointment! Have students create individual accounts and collaborate with others or create a class account for all to use. Have groups collaborate on the creation of flashcards for students to use or have groups create flashcards for specific parts of the unit. Learning support students can take their extra help along with them.

This interesting site (created by Google), provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. In addition, the search can also create timelines from relevant time periods by using the advance search table that pops up on the landing page.

In the Classroom

This site will complement any social studies, history class, or English class. Use the search to bring history alive for students. Show actual news articles on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students use this tool for research. Have them use the advanced search table that pops up to find events that happened during a particular time period. English teachers will also find this a useful tool to show how journalism has evolved through the years.

Find ways to include your class in online, project based learning. This site offers living curriculum in a world laboratory that promotes lifelong learning. A series of different programs, including International school Cyber Fair, Doors to Diplomacy, Mosaics of Life, Geogame, Online Expedition, and Letters to Santa all encourage global technology. Global SchoolNet engages youth in project based, online learning activities to promote creativity and communication, while increasing global understanding. A Projects Registry and Collaborative Learning Center contains great ideas for projects. Webby award winner Global SchoolNet has been a top ten educational website for five years in a row. This is a great resource for busy teachers!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Go global with your class this year! Set your technology goals to include many of the different global project based learning sites in a condensed easy to find manner. Link your class to other classes around the world. Join in online expeditions, competitions for your students, or even an online teacher award. Join in the Newsday Project and have your students publish articles for the world to see. Several International resources provide lesson plans for teachers for problem based technology projects. Information for different competitions bring your class into the cutting edge of global technology problem based learning. Join the list serve to keep updated with the latest happening in global education.

Weblist is a way to organize and gather web content, a way to put a list of links into a meaningful organization, ready to share. After you create your list of sites based upon a theme, Weblist will create one easy url to access the list and navigate to the sites. This link can then be shared as a customizable web page or inserted into your website or blog. Click the links in the Weblist to open them in new tabs/windows. No more typing urls!

In the Classroom

Create and share resources for any classroom topic. Ask students to develop a Weblist of their sources when doing their research. Create your own Weblist to be used during lessons on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Assign small groups of students to investigate the already created Weblists to find resources for projects or to reinforce concepts being taught in class. Create differentiated Weblists for projects so everyone can find information they can read and understand.

This site offers information on Jewish culture. Information is shared by using stamps and is added to yearly. The cultural information includes history, holidays, food, education, Zionism, greetings, games, nature, and art. The target stamps are enlarged and easy to see.

In the Classroom

Use this site when studying world cultures, particularly the Middle East. Have students prepare a similar project on stamps from other countries. Use the stamps on holidays as a jumping off place to study Israeli holidays. If you have created a class wiki, have students add to it using information gathered here. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.

Use JotForm to quickly build a professional online form. Build contact forms, surveys, and many other forms in a matter of minutes. Customize to meet your needs. Use the large, empty canvas by dragging and dropping elements. Generate and post your form online and receive an email for every survey response.

In the Classroom

Use in the classroom for a survey, collecting student information, or any time you are looking for feedback. Use this site for checking student knowledge quickly and easily. Use in projects, including graduation projects. Students can collect data for analysis. Teachers can collect input from parents or students, including conference concerns to know about in advance or questions students have about current curriculum topics. Students who might never speak up in class may be willing to share their questions online, especially if it is anonymous.

Edge Features:

Comments

Jotform is really easy to use! But there are some limits regarding how long and often you can use it without paying. I also use Google forms/ spreadsheets in my class to make forms. Google spreadsheets also have gadgets that let you graph the results!Elise, CO, Grades: 0 - 12

Use this engaging mashup of Google Street View and Google Maps to hop around the globe by randomly teleporting into a continent. Use as a spontaneous way to learn about other areas and review how to determine longitude and latitude of a location. Choose a continent to visit and click "Teleport." View the street view in the large screen and the Google Map location in the smaller one. This site gives a "taste" of the area, not a wide variety of photos.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this resource to have students or groups of students teleport to a random area. Assign projects that require students to learn more about the area including history, people living there, natural resources, ecosystem information, and more. Create travel brochures, wiki pages, and more with the information. Have students make a multimedia presentation or mystery tour of world locations using one of the reviewed TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here.

Voicethread allows you to upload images (from your digital camera, scanner, or even paint program). You can also upoad PowerPoint slides. Then students can record or write their own comments and/or narration about the images/slides. Other listeners can "comment" back, as well. Access to the ed.voicethread site (as opposed to www.voicethread) is restricted to grades K-12 students, educators, and administrators. VoiceThread explains how to set up a classroom account and has some ideas for classroom use, as well. Ideas from the TeachersFirst Edge review team are listed below, under "In the classroom."

Voicethread also offers a free iOS app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It is free through the iTunes app store. Projects work seamlessly on both computer and mobile iOS devices, so projects started on one machine can be edited and/or viewed on another. Your ed.Voicethread account works in both places.

In the Classroom

You will be logged into your account immediately after you fill in the registration form. You must "apply" to designate your account as an educator account once it is set up. Click on "browse" to see many examples, including tutorials. Watch the "One Minute Voicethread" to get a very quick overview of how easy it is to create a digital story. Set up student identities. Use first names only. You need to know how to locate and upload saved pictures or PowerPoint files. If you want to use audio, the COOL tool, you WILL need a microphone, either plugged into your computer or built in. Once you create a Voicethread, it can be shared by clicking "share" from the menu or at the end of viewing it and copying the URL to send via email or other means, inviting others to comment back. Ed voicethreads have comment moderation turned on by default and are private by default. As the teacher, you can change these settings.

Invite parents to share in the results (The VoiceThread classroom page tells you more about this). TeachersFirst does not recommend using actual, identifiable pictures of children. Let them draw a picture or take a digital picture of an object that somehow represents them (middle schoolers will love that idea!). If you allow others to "comment" on student Voicethreads, the experience can be both wonderful and a bit intimidating. Use this opportunity to promote ethical and kind interaction with other students and their projects.

Of course, you should be sure that you have the RIGHTS to any images you upload. Fair Use does not apply when you put an image on the web! Elementary classes can create or take pictures, then ask each child to talk about the images. Each child can comment on the SAME pictures, creating a collaborative collection of responses. After a field trip or special class event, you can assign groups of students to explain each of the digital pictures you took and how they relate to curriculum topics. In art class, students can critique works of their own or of fellow students. In language arts classes, students can scan and comment on writing pieces as part of a reflective phase of the writing process. Or post an image as a prewriting activity and allow students to respond orally in an idea-generating phase. In social studies, have students provide a picture of a grandparent then narrate what they learned about that grandparent from interviewing him/her. Have students create narrated pictures as gifts (for parents or other care givers) for special occasions, winter holidays, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc.. During a science experiment or demo, have a student take pictures of the steps. Then ask students to "narrate" them by commenting on what is happening. The narration assignment could even be a center activity or an assignment on a few classroom computers for students to rotate through. What a great way to review and apply key vocabulary! Be sure they identify their voices if you are using a single class account and want to be able to assess understanding. Other ideas: narrated local history projects (pictures of local sites), audio "museum tours" of artifacts (photos) or war veterans telling their stories along with images of their uniforms or old photos. Speech/language, ESL/ELL or early childhood teachers could use this tool to promote vocabulary development and oral expression.

Use Geolover to plan and organize trips anywhere in the world. Mark places you like. Print to create your own travel map and guide. Click on a location, find sites of interest, and click "Add to my list." Click on your lists to view in map view and use other tools. Add your own places of interest easily. As with any site that shares photos and video clips, be sure to preview what you plan to share BEFORE you share the site with your class. There is also an app version of this site for those using iPads or iTouches.

In the Classroom

Use this resource to find important points of interest in places around the world. Use it to learn more about other countries and cultures, determine distances between points of interest, or create travel guides for particular purposes such as religious, governmental, or historical interest. Create a travel guide of a country you would love to visit. Share travel guides or use as the basis of presentations to the class. Create a class bulletin board using Padlet, reviewed here, where you can make columns for the most popular destinations (for a travel guide) and students can contribute to the bulletin board. Then have students create an online book or brochure of images and captions about their travel guide using a site such as Storybird, reviewed here. Use the information at this site to have your students create conventional or multimedia projects. Challenge students make a multimedia presentation using Calameo, reviewed here, and Magazine Cover Maker, reviewed here, or give them a choice of presentation formats using Genial.ly, reviewed here.

In the Classroom

Use these resources to connect New Years and related "new" celebrations to your curriculum in almost any subject or select one or two ideas to highlight along with your regular lessons. Note that a new school year is also a good time for resolutions!

Find resources and activities appropriate for Mothers' Day in this collection from TeachersFirst. The resources include many project ideas for elementary students. Some of the creative tools will lure even older students into writing and creating much=appreciated gifts.